Dark times and how to survive them

There's nothing worse than a loss of hope. A feeling that nothing can ever get any better for us and those we love including all creatures great and small.

So, what do we do? Give into despair? Sometimes its not a matter of giving in so much as being dragged down by despair.
By life.

By constantly reading about all the nasty things that are happening to other people, both animal and human. By having our lives ruined by the actions of others who carry on, not so much oblivious to how what they do harms others, as not caring.

So, what can we do?

We can take the smallest thing, the smallest success and give it the credit it deserves.

Find something that makes us smile.

Pat ourselves on the back for the little things we achieve. Our kindness to others, not just the people we know but to strangers - especially strangers.

Most of all, during dark moments when we see no end to the darkness, to human cruelties inflicted on the voiceless, we need to remember who we are. Why we are here on this earth.

We are the compassionate ones and are here to make the world a better place. And, we are not alone.

And that's how veggiegirl2011 sees it.

My manifesto for a more compassionate world

1. Products that are tested on animals should be legally made to show graphic images like the diseased lungs on cigarette packs in the UK.

"Because I'm worth it." 

Is animal suffering worth it? Let people see.

Hey, maybe there are people who don't care about rabbits being blinded or mice being mutilated, but there are also those who have no idea that cosmetics and household products are still tested on animals.


Time we had pictures like this showing animal experiments on products that use animal testing.

2. There should be legal definitions enforceable by law, over what constitutes vegetarian and vegan suitable products. At the moment, there are just recommendations. But, hey, I could recommend from birth that every baby is given wings, it don't make it so.

3. Clearer labeling on all products not just a list of ingredients, but an explanation of what the more ambiguous one are. Does everyone know that gelatin/gelatine is ground down animal bone and muscle? What about the insects that go into cochineal? Or, the fish bladders called isinglass used to filter some drinks? People have a right to know what they and their kids are eating.

4. Clear vegetarian sections in stores that are kept away from non-vegetarian and vegan foods. One of the stores I shop in (Tesco Glasgow) put Redwoods vegan sage and onion slice in the fish aisle, down from a rotisserie where a chicken was going round. What the hell?

5. CCTV cameras in every slaughterhouse. Animals shouldn't be beaten, have their legs broken been thrown against walls. Let's ensure that every slaughterhouse worker knows that if they abuse animals unlucky enough to end up in their workplace that they could be caught on camera and prosecuted. There's a UK petition here and worldwide here.

6. Sentences for animal abusers to be changed from years to months. In the UK, if people are convicted their sentences (if they get prison at all) are months, rather thank years. They throw in 'banned from keeping a pet' for a certain amount of years, but who actually polices it?

7. The end of breed selective legislation for dogs. No man or animal should be killed for how they look. Let's do it for Lennox.

8. A ban on dog breeding for profit. Until every shelter is empty, nobody should be bringing any more dogs into the world.

Puppy farms should be banned.

What would be in your manifesto?

I'd love to know. Please post a comment.

The best vegetarian & vegan guides for free Part 1 - VIVA

Some great vegetarian and vegan themed guides from VIVA (Vegetarians International Voice for Animals)  http://www.viva.org.uk/guides/index.htm  There's a few free downloads/ones available to read online from this terrific organisation.

The best ones (IMHO) are -

 End of the Line for Fish 

Wheat-eaters or Meat-Eaters (go to download pdf)

Your Health in Their Hands (the health benefits of a vegetarian diet)

The L-Plate Vegetarian

The L-Plate Vegan

How to be dairy free (go down to the title and download pdf)

He's happy, because he knows you're not going to eat him.

Note - although these guides are free, organisations wouldn't be able to operate without donations, so pleas give generously - if you can - or purchase something from their shop:)

My book Living Cruelty Free has travelled a long way...

From Frankfurt

to London in fact.

Don't you just love that cover?

Why I wrote Living Cruelty Free

Living Cruelty Free is out on March 29th, available on Amazon.com & Amazon.co.uk

Also available at The Book Depository - they offer free worldwide shipping.

What’s in Living Cruelty Free?
The book focuses on ways to live a life that is more compassionate towards human beings and animals.

The chapters are as follows –
What's Cruelty Free?
Things that Can Never be Cruelty Free – this covers the cruellest things on the planet like fur, Foie gras, goose and duck down.
Going free-range & cage-free – I look at what free range means because it means something different depending on what country you live in. For example in America hens can be described as free-range as long as they have access to just five minutes of light a day.
Going Vegetarian or Vegan – as well as being aimed at new vegetarians and vegans, I also have useful information for people who are already vegetarian or vegan. For example, on the hidden animal sources nasties in foods.
Cruelty Free Cosmetics – It can be tricky to buy cosmetics and toiletries that are completely cruelty free. For instance just because a product says it’s not tested on animals may not mean its cruelty free. The ingredients may have been tested by their suppliers or the company that produced it may have benefited from animal research. To guarantee its cruelty free, it’s important to look out for the leaping bunny logo.
Shop Kind – This chapter is geared towards making people aware of the cruelty inflicted on their fellow human beings to make and produce the foods and products they buy. I cover child labour, slave labour and Fairtrade.
19 Ways to Create a More Compassionate World – These are equally split between helping human beings and helping animals. This is very important because I firmly believe that compassion towards human beings and animals goes hand in hand.
Become a Cruelty Free Crusader – proactive ways to make the world you live in a more compassionate place.
Useful Websites
Book List

Do you need to live in the UK for the book to be relevant?
No. The book is written in American English and when it covers laws and food labelling, the facts and laws given cover America, the UK, Canada and Australia, but most of the content is relevant to you wherever you live.

For instance, the majority of the world's fur comes from China, so the method with which it’s obtained is the same wherever it's sold.

What made you write the book?
I’ve been a vegetarian for 25 years and know from experience that there are many people out there who want to buy more ethical products that involve no animal suffering and are made by people who are paid fairly for their produce. There’s also a trend towards reducing the meat in your diet. Those people may not want to go the full hog and go vegetarian, but they do care about where the things they buy come from and whether they were tested on animals or caused animals any suffering.

Is the book only relevant to vegetarians and vegans?
Vegetarians and vegans will find it most useful, but no the book is not just aimed at vegetarians and is the perfect gift for vegetarians and vegans to give to non-vegetarian family and friends in an effort to encourage them to live a life that's more compassionate towards animals and humans.
Even if people read this book and stop eating veal and Foie gras (how many people know how both are made) and wearing fur or having goose or duck down in their bedding, I’ll have achieved something.

If you had to sum up the book's message, what would you say?
That with small steps, we can all make the world a kinder place: one that is more compassionate for people and animals.

Who do you see as the main readership of the book?
This is the ideal book for vegetarians and vegans to buy both for themselves - I've been a vegetarian who's been trying to live a cruelty free life for 25 years and in the course of my research I discovered some things that shocked me that I honestly wish I could unknow as they gave me nightmares.

I also hope that vegetarians and vegans will get thebook for family and friends to help them understand why they make the choices they do. Maybe it'll inspire them to make some changes themselves.

I also think non-vegetarians, who are interested in living a more compassionate life, will read the book as it also covers how to make the world a better place for humans too, with tips on how to avoid buying goods that are made using exploited labour and helping to ease poverty in the Third World.

What kind of response have you had to your companion blog?
I’ve been so pleased with the response to the blog and from people I’ve met via social network sites like Twitter and Facebook. I’m delighted to find that like me there are many people who despair about the cruelty in the world and want to help change things.

There are so many great blogs out there too that promote living a cruelty free life. It’s very heartening and proves there are people out there who do believe they can change the world.

What has been people’s reaction to Living Cruelty Free?
Most people have been positive and some friends and family who have read the book have said it’s made them more aware of the cruelty that goes on towards animals and made them more inclined to eliminate certain animal products from their diets. A few of them have even become vegetarian, including my mum.

They’ve also been shocked to read that some of the things they buy may have been made by child labour or slave labour and have said it’s more likely to make them buy Fairtrade.

Do you expect to get any criticism?
I know I'll probably be criticised for writing a living cruelty free book that doesn't simply say 'go vegan and stop using anything that's animal derived' but the truth its hard enough to get most people to eat less meat never mind no meat, milk, or eggs. I do my best though by highlighting the cruelty involved in obtaining these products.

The book's main message is an important one: that you can still make a difference to the welfare of animals with small steps like avoiding the cruellest foods on the planet like Foie gras, veal and fur. It doesn't mean I'm saying meat or eggs or milk are cruelty free - far from it - but I hope that by learning about the cruelty that goes into those things that people will have their eyes opened to the cruelty animals endure to end up as food on their plate and that they might veer towards vegetarianism.

Realistically though, most meat eaters will not stop eating meat and go vegetarian so the message is eat less meat and use less animal products to lessen the cruelty inflicted on animals, primarily by the meat trade. If every individual did that instead of thinking 'I eat meat so I might as well wear fur, eat veal etc because animals are here for humans to use' that will make some difference to the lives of farm animals.

For instance it might mean fewer animals are killed to be eaten or that particularly cruel foods like Foie gras are no longer considered acceptable things to eat. Look at the way fur is largely spurned in the UK now. There used to be furriers everywhere, but now they've all closed down because people's eyes were opened to the cruelty of fur so selling it became unacceptable and the furriers shut down.

Has doing the research changed you?
Yes, after 25 years of being a vegetarian I am now a vegan. After finding out about the cruelty that goes into milk production I had to make the switch.

Are you funding animal experiments (without knowing about it)?

Animal Aid are currently running a campaign warning people that charities they may be supporting may be conducting animal experiments. According to their literature, two of the worst offenders are The British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK.

They've now come up with a list of charities that do fund animal experiments and those that don't. To see where charities stand, visit www.animalaid.org.uk  

Why should we care about whether these charities fund experiments on animals?

2 main reasons -

ONE - These experiments cause unnecessary suffering to animals that have no one to speak for them as they live out a miserable and painful existence. Labs are poorly monitored (if they are monitored at all), condemning many animals to a lifetime of suffering in a cage.

TWO - They are wasting your money.

Experiments on animals are unreliable and just because a drug or procedure works on an animal doesn't mean it will work on a human. These animals are often given diseases and conditions they wouldn't naturally get or genetically engineered to have them.

Charities who fund experiments on animals claim they do it because they want to find a cure. The truth is animal experiments often take us further away from a cure and not closer. They waste money and time. Time that people who are ill may not have to wait for a cure or a treatment.

It’s not just in the UK that you could be unwittingly funding animal experiments. Most charities are hardly upfront about it. This surely begs the question - surely if this is essential they would tell people they pay for animal research?

For charities in the USA who don't fund animal experiments, visit - www.humaneseal.org

You can check out charities in the following countries –

USA

Canada

Australia

UK

Living Cruelty Free is on its way!

Yay, Living Cruelty Free is now completed and is in the hands of the publisher. After auch a long journey to publication, I am looking forward to seeing it published. First as an ebook in January 2012 and then as a traditional book later on in the year.

One thing I am particularly glad of is that I no longer have to research the topics in the book. Things like veal, fur, foie gras. Reading about how these things are derived from such extreme cruelty has been heartbreaking.

What has been uplifting is reading about how so many people are turning their backs on things that come from such cruelty. In the UK where I live, people who wear fur are seen as social pariahs.

Another fact that makes me happy is that people's eyes are being opened to the cruelty involved in bringing low cost fashion to our high street chains. What's more, people are saying 'not in my name' and are shunning stores that sell wares made by slave labour (often child slave labour).

Together we can all make a real difference, I genuinely believe that and that's why I wrote Living Cruelty Free.

To be human is to show compassion to our fellow human beings and to animals. Those are words we can all live by.

Things I've learned whilst writing Living Cruelty Free

Writing Living Cruelty Free has been at times a distressing experience. I've had to research some things that were so upsetting I've had nightmares and wished that I could unlearn these things.

Things like what goes on in puppy farms, the shocking way that children are treated in Third World countries where they are taken advantage of by the suppliers to the big store chains to make things like clothes and toys, the appalling ways that animals are treated to make so called delicacies like veal and Foie gras.

There is one thing that I have come to realize whilst writing the book -

The countries with the shocking human rights records like China, are the ones with the worst animal abuses.

Could there be a link between human cruelty and animal cruelty? There definitely is. That's why in order to create a kinder, more compassionate world, we need to look out for each other and animals.

The other thing I have learnt is that we can never stop fighting for both human and animal rights, because there are so man people and animals who need our help.